


The Confidant

by FollyPlague



Category: Star Stable
Genre: F/M, I JUST WROTE ALL MY TAGS IN THE RELATIONSHIP AREA FUCK, LIKE SERIOUSLY SPOILERS LMAO I COMPLETELY FORGOT, M/M, Oh My God, Star Stable Spoilers, among other things, and yes theres probably 15 other fics with this name, anyway enjoy, anyway um this isnt intended for kids to read and isnt child friednly, characters swear. some do it a lot, dunno why there isnt an alonso/original male characters but whatever, if you came here from my tumblr hi im sorry, im surprised other people write star stable fanfiction, im surprised theres tags for any of these, oh yeah also this is self indulgent but i think that was to be assumed from the start, so like. if youre looking for a pg star stable fanfic this aint it
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-03-02
Updated: 2021-03-02
Packaged: 2021-03-14 22:54:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,661
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29799099
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FollyPlague/pseuds/FollyPlague
Summary: i play star stable too much i was bound to write about it lolValentina Wolfroad has a lot of secrets, but the one that's most important to protect is that she's not from this reality. Neither is the strange magician stationed in Nilmers Highland. The story mainly focuses on Valentina's adventures in Jorvik, and who she meets along the way. There is also a secondary story following Salem Darkpine, another new resident on Jorvik who takes an interest in becoming a forest ranger.
Relationships: Alonso (Star Stable)/Original Character(s), FUCK I JUST DELETED ALL THE TAGS, Ydris (Star Stable)/Original Female Character(s)
Comments: 3
Kudos: 3





	1. Chapter 1

Moving to a new place was an event that tends to scare people. This wasn’t the case for 20 year-old Valentina Wolfroad. The idea of moving to an entirely new location -- an island, of all places -- excited her. The concept of no one knowing who you are, what your past is… you could become an entirely new person and no one would know the better, as long as you kept no past contacts. 

She’d lived in Jorvik for two weeks and had already collected a new horse to add to her stable. Previously, she’d owned 5, and had brought them with her to Jorvik. But upon hearing legends of the Jorvik Wild Horses, she decided to seek them out. Lo and behold, she now had a very muscular, very furry, very big mantle palomino Jorvik Wild stallion. 

Nothing could replace her Waterlily, though. The huge palomino sabino Irish Cob had a special place in her heart. Currently, Valentina was running a brush through Waterlily’s white mane and listening to the nearby conversation between Loretta and Tan.

“There’s just this weird black horse down by the beach… no one knows who it belongs to.” Tan was saying.

“Who cares? The owner will come looking for it eventually. People in Jorvik don’t just abandon their horses.” Loretta replied.

Considering this, Valentina put the brush away and began to saddle up Waterlily. A mystery, huh? She was fond of those. And from her first impressions of the island, Jorvik had plenty. She hopped up on Waterlily’s back with a surprising amount of core strength, then clicked her tongue and nudged the horse’s sides with her heels. 

The beach carried a salty breeze through her hair as she traversed along it. She mentally wondered if the salt would actually affect her hair; she didn’t like that. Finally, she came across the ownerless horse; a silver black North Swedish Horse. She hopped off of Waterlily and approached curiously. The horse didn’t seem afraid of people; in fact, she began to sniff around Valentina’s pockets for treats. 

“Eh?” Valentina looked down at her jacket. “Do you want a cookie or something?” She dug around in her pockets until she found the horse cookie she was carrying. She’d intended to give it to Waterlily after their daily ride, but that could wait. The black horse eagerly accepted the cookie, and then began to walk away.

It didn’t seem like aimless wandering. She had a purpose. Valentina mounted Waterlily again and began to follow the black horse, which led her up to Nilmer’s Highland, then into a secluded woodsy area that she hadn’t explored yet. Entering an empty field, Valentina spotted a hat. Then the man underneath it. Was this the owner of the black horse?

“Ah, Zee! There you are.” he exclaimed, coming up to the horse and patting her neck. “And I see you’ve brought a friend.” he addressed Valentina, looking up at her.

“So this is your horse?” she asked. 

“Indeed it is. Zee is my pull-horse.” he said. “A wonderful companion, and very useful… just a bit of a trickster from time to time. Where did you find her?”

“She was chilling down by the beach near the Moorland stables. Wouldn’t move until I gave her a cookie from my pocket.”

“Sounds just like her.” the man chuckled good naturedly.

Valentina observed him silently. He was dressed very, very formally… and the hat would seem to suggest that he was a magician of some sort? His eyes unnerved her if anything. One eye was brown, and the other was an icy blue, even lighter than her own. It seemed a little larger than his other eye, if that was even possible. More dilated? Valentina pondered all of this in silence until the man awkwardly cleared his throat.

“Well, if you plan on hanging around, would you be so kind as to help me set up my circus?” he asked.

“Circus?” Valentina raised an eyebrow.

“Yes, it’s going to be the most magnificent circus you’ve ever seen! I even plan on setting up a track, so you could take your beast of a horse through it if you wanted to.”

“Sounds interesting, though this isn’t the horse I use for competitions.” she smiled, stroking Waterlily’s mane absentmindedly.

“You have more than one horse?” he questioned.

“I have six, to be exact.”

“Goodness, that’s a lot of horses.” he frowned slightly. “How do you handle them all?”

“I have the time and the money. Simple. Waterlily is my pride and joy, though.” she gestured to the Irish Cob.

“Interesting. Well, I feel that we are in need of an introduction; I am the amazing Ydris, and I humbly welcome you to my soon-to-be circus.” he bowed slightly. Dramatic, but Valentina had a soft spot for the dramatic. It took a ton of ego, to be fair.

“Hmm.” she smiled, looking at him again. There was something about him that she couldn’t pinpoint. It wasn’t unsettling, it was just underneath the surface of her memory, nagging her…

Ydris stared back at her. There was something of her essence that was nagging him as well. He cleared his throat. “Your name, my dear?”

“Huh? Oh, Valentina.” she replied. 

“Like Valentine,” he said. “What a pretty name!”

“I guess.” she shrugged. “So, you want help setting up your circus?”

“If you would be so kind.”

“What kinda help do you need?” she asked, sliding off Waterlily. “I’m pretty strong. I can carry things.”

“Oh, it’s not much. I just need someone to unpack the bags I’ve set out in the field. Just set their contents out on the ground.”

“Easy enough.” Valentina said, cracking her knuckles through her gloves and setting out to unpack each bag.

It truly was easy enough, because she was done within 15 minutes. As she set the last item on the ground, Ydris spoke from directly behind her.  
“Oh, is that the last piece? Thank you!” 

Valentina whipped around and suppressed a scream, having not heard him approach. The result was her staring at him with very wide eyes for a few seconds, then getting to her feet. “Uh.. right, yeah, that’s all of it. What’s next?”

“What’s next, she asks.” he smiled. “Nothing except to watch the amazing Ydris in action. Stand back and observe.”

Valentina obeyed and returned to Waterlily’s side. She watched as the parts on the ground suddenly lifted into the air and began to assemble themselves; the whole circus was assembled within a few seconds. She raised an eyebrow, doing her best to seem unaffected.

He approached her after it was complete. “Well, what do you think?”

“The circus? It looks cool. I’d visit.” she said, much more nervous now. She’d figured out what had been nagging her, and while it should have relaxed her, it only made things worse. And unfortunately, Valentina’s natural reaction to being anxious was to shut down and come off as emotionless.

Ydris did not seem particularly satisfied by her reaction. He squinted at her curiously, noticing her strange pointed ears. 

“Are these real?” he asked, reaching out to touch one. 

Valentina slid past his hand smoothly, reaching into his sleeve cuff and plucking out a card. “Yes, they are. Don’t touch them, thanks.” she said, observing the card. Ace of spades. “You should be better about hiding these. I could see it poking out of your cuff.”

Ydris scowled at her. 

She mounted Waterlily, much to his distress. “Your racetrack looks interesting, at least. I’m sure I’ll come back with my competition mare sometime.” she smiled.

“The card-” he whined.

“You can have it back when I return.” she said, holding it between two fingers out of his reach. He may have been tall, but he wasn’t as tall as Valentina on an Irish Cob. “Until then, figure out some other way to do your tricks. A magician talented enough to assemble a circus like that shouldn’t rely on cheap tactics.” she tucked the card into her pocket and steered Waterlily away, leaving a flustered Ydris alone at his circus.

He paced back and forth, confused about the entire interaction. Why hadn’t she seemed surprised at his magic? Certainly she must have known that there was no possible way that a normal magician could assemble a circus without touching it. And why… why did something about her remind him of home?


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> horse go woosh

Local competitions seemed plentiful in Jorvik. Valentina had always been fond of racing, though not on a particularly professional level. Competitions could be fun if she wasn’t trying to win them. Currently, she was in the starting area for the Firgrove Championship, absentmindedly petting Waterlily 2. Waterlily 2 was her champion show riding horse, a dapple grey Lusitano who, incidentally, shared the same name as Valentina’s prized Irish Cob. Both of them would only respond to the name, so changing it for either of them was out of the question. 

There was a surprising amount of people at the competition. Most of them seemed young, around Valentina’s age. Some were older, some were younger. Valentina was observing them, running her fingers through Waterlily 2’s mane, when suddenly a hand swiped the ace of spades she’d tucked into her sleeve.

“Hey-” she whipped around, ready to unleash hell on someone, but paused once she realized who it was.

“In my defense, your guard was down.” Ydris chuckled good-naturedly, tucking the card into his pocket. 

Waterlily 2 snorted nervously, stomping her hooves on the ground. Valentina squinted. “Hold on- she normally gets a little anxious around this many people. Let me tie her in a more secluded area.”

She led the mare to a corner and tied her reins to the fence, patting her neck before returning to Ydris. 

“‘Ya stalking me now, or do you attend all the competitions?” she asked.

“Well, I was visiting Starshine Ranch, which isn’t very far from here. I decided to drop in, since it was so close. I didn’t know you’d be attending, but I’m glad you are.” he smiled. “Otherwise, I would’ve gone home without my card.”

“Keep your guard up.” Valentina smiled back, though Ydris wasn’t oblivious to the veiled threat. If she saw the card again, she was going to take it. 

She glanced up at the dark clouds, feeling rain start to sprinkle on her face. “Oh, man. Are they gonna cancel it?”

“Of course not.” Ydris waved his hand. “Jorvik cares more about its competitions than anything else. Rain isn’t life threatening.”

Valentina bit her lip, something about Ydris’s statement not sitting well with her. She pushed it down into the back of her mind.

“You know any of these people?” she then asked, glancing over her shoulder at the crowd.

“Not very personally. A good handful of them come to get their fortunes read by me, but I’m afraid that’s about the extent.”

“You read fortunes?” Val cocked an eyebrow.

Ydris pressed his lips together in a thin line and nodded. “Indeed. You don’t think much of fortune tellers, do you?”

Val blinked. “What gave it away?”

Ydris simply tapped his forehead. 

A whistle interrupted whatever Valentina was going to say next. “Two minute mark,” Ydris said. “You should join the lineup.”

“Uh, yeah. Okay.” Val shrugged, making her way towards Waterlily 2.

“Good luck.” Ydris waved cordially. 

Waterlily 2 was still stomping nervously, more so than Valentina was used to. She murmured to the horse as she rode her towards the lineup. “Hey, relax girl. I know this is a new area and everything, but you’re still the same showstopper you’ve always been.”

Valentina positioned herself between two younger girls and waited for the starting gun to blow. She felt like too many eyes were on her- the newcomer, the one with the strange pointed ears. The one who didn’t belong. When the blank was fired, Valentina was so distracted that she almost flew straight off Waterlily 2, who lunged into motion and began galloping.

The rain whipped against Val’s face, causing her to try and shrink into her shirt. She wasn’t really dressed properly for the weather. She was aware that despite Waterlily 2’s speed, she was not in the lead. It didn’t matter. Being a part of something was enough. 

A purple blur in the rain caught Val’s eye. Ydris, she assumed, watching the competition. Right as she made that assumption, there was an ear shattering crack, and a tree slammed down in front of her, narrowly missing the rider in front of her. Waterlily 2 reared and squealed, knocking Valentina off. There was a brief struggle as Valentina attempted to get her feet out of the stirrups while Waterlily 2 was bucking and rearing, trying to do damage control. 

She was only able to free herself when the mare slipped on the wet stone, collapsing onto the ground. She attempted to go to console Waterlily 2, but was suddenly dragged back by two hands hooking under her arms. It hurt, and Val struggled.

“Get away, she’s panicking!” It was Ydris, which didn’t really surprise Valentina. “You’ll get hurt!”

“Let go!” Val snapped. “I have to calm her down, I have to get her out of the road before the next rider-”

The next rider thundered into view, then skidded to a very abrupt stop that would have impressed Val if she were judging it. The rider practically vaulted off of his horse, then missed his landing and slipped onto the ground. He scrambled back to his feet and ran towards them.

“Holt shit, what happened?” he asked.

Valentina was too focused on Waterlily 2 struggling to get back up to respond. She thrust her head back, knocking forcefully into Ydris’s chin and startling him into dropping her. She made an attempt to crawl towards Waterlily 2, but by then the mare had gotten back up and was already taking off into the Firgrove wilderness.

“Shit!” Valentina cursed, then cursed some more, quite loudly. She crumpled onto the path in disdain. 

“Hey, are you good?” The rider came to her side. “You don’t look very-”

“I have to go get her!” Val interrupted him in a panic. “She’s so scared, and she could be hurt from when she fell, what if I don’t find her in time?”

“No, what you have to do is go to a doctor.” the rider squinted. “If you got bucked from your horse, I’m betting you broke at least one bone.”

“Fuck that! It can wait!” Valentina growled. She whipped around to face Ydris, ready to chew him out for holding her back, but he was nowhere to be found. “Gah… where’d the fucking magic man run off to?”

“Doesn’t matter.” the rider shook his head. “We need to get you to a doctor before a crowd starts accumulating here.” 

Val glanced to the side and noticed that a few other riders were already gathering, murmuring amongst themselves.

“Fine.” she sighed, wanting to get out of the scene. 

The man lifted her onto the back of his Jorvik Warmblood, which was light brown with a white blaze. He then began to gallop towards Firgrove Village. The fast pace made Valentina wince, not liking the way it made her body jolt around. 

“What happened, anyway?” the rider asked.

“A fucking tree broke and landed right in front of us. Scared the shit out of Waterlily 2. She bucked me off and fled.” Valentina summarized bitterly.

“Are you new here?”

“Yeah, why?”

“Figured. Did your horse come from Jorvik, or did you bring her here?”

“Brought.”

“Explains why she doesn’t have the hardiness of a Jorvik horse. Most of the horses born on the island are a bit less sensitive to harsh environments. The bond between rider and horse is strong enough to overcome it.” It sounded like he was grinning. “Or some corny shit like that. You know.”

“I like to think I have a pretty good bond with my horse.” Valentina muttered.

“Sure, but bonds are different on Jorvik.” 

The rest of the ride was silent until they eventually arrived at the doctor’s office.

“I’m Gale, by the way.” the rider said as he slid off of his horse. “This is Jelly.” he patted the mare.

“Valentina.” she sighed as Gale helped her down. “Thanks for… helping, I guess. I’m just a little stressed out.”

“I’d also be stressed out if Jelly ran away. Or Beyonce. I get it.” 

“Beyonce?”

Gale unbuttoned his upper shirt pocket, and a small furry grey animal poked its head out. Valentina stared at it for a bit until realizing what it was. 

“You… keep a hamster in your pocket?”

“Whenever I go out, sure. Beyonce likes to go on trips with me.”

“Huh.” Valentina said, stunned into silence.

After one painful and lengthy doctor visit, Valentina returned home with a cast on her arm and fracture boot. It was nothing compared to her wounded pride. Almost everyone had seen her horse take off from her. She’d declined Gale’s offer to ride her back home, since she’d cracked a rib and sitting on a galloping horse sounded like a personal hell. They’d then parted ways, but Valentina was certain she’d see him again.

The doctor had said to limit movement, but it wasn’t long before Valentina was on her feet again, stumbling around Firgrove in the middle of the night, looking for Waterlily 2. She couldn’t sleep, not when she didn’t know where Waterlily 2 was. It was a fruitless search that ended in ankle pain so severe that she had to settle under a tree for the night, unable to walk back home. 

She woke the next morning in an unfamiliar area, somewhere very dark and warm. She blindly felt around for a bit until she found a door handle, opened it, then promptly almost blinded herself with sunlight. It took a few moments before she realized she was at Ydris’s circus, in a trailer. She groaned lowly and went to shut the door, but a hand (Ydris, she presumed) grabbed it and stopped her.

“I must say, Firgrove doesn’t make the best of sleeping places.” he teased.

“God, do you ever shut up?”

“Do you ever think about your own safety?” he retorted. 

“Why do you care about my safety? It’s not like you’d even give a shit if half of everyone on Jorvik just suddenly vanished.”

Ydris just squinted at her, something between a glare and a grimace. “I don’t understand what has led you to that conclusion, my dear.”

“I understand you a lot better than you think I do.” she shrugged. “So, why do you care about my safety?”

Valentina already knew the real answer. He was drawn to her, she had no doubt about it. He probably didn’t understand it. She knew that he was unable to explain why he felt a force drawing him to her, why she reminded him of home, why he cared about her at all.

“Because I’m a decent person.” Ydris deadpanned.

Valentina choked back laughter, snorting softly instead. “Sure. Okay.”

“Could an improper person do this?” he asked, waving his hand around Valentina’s head. When he brought it back, he was holding a silky red bow; Waterlily 2’s tail bow.

Val gasped, forgetting the comment she was about to make about his corny magic trick. “What- where did you find that?"

“Attached to your horse, who is currently attached to a pole outside.”

Valentina burst out of the trailer and onto the ground. Literally, onto the ground, because her sprained ankle caused her to tumble face first. Ydris bent to help her, but she was already scrambling back to her feet and limping towards Waterlily 2.

“I would have brought her to you,” Ydris sighed. “You didn’t have to run out of the trailer like a wild animal.”

Val ignored his comment, burying her face into Waterlily 2’s black mane. “Where did you find her?”

“She ran quite a ways. It took most of the night. I might’ve actually gotten some sleep had I not discovered that you were also missing.”

“Eh, I would’ve turned up.”

“You were a fragile, distraught girl with a sprained ankle and a broken arm wandering around in the dark. It was all too likely that you could have hurt yourself and needed serious attention before morning.”

She snorted, brushing Waterlily 2’s mane with her fingers. “But where did you find her? Was she in the Firgrove area?”

“I imagine she started out there, but she managed to get deep into Redwood Point by the time I caught up.” Ydris said, going to Zee’s side to stroke her neck. “It’s a beautiful forest, but no one’s gone into it for a long time because of brush overgrowth.”

“How’d you get in, then?”

He squinted. “It wasn’t fun. I tore my suit on thorns.”

“Oh. Thank you…” Valentina murmured, leaning against Waterlily 2. “I guess it wasn’t you who made the tree fall, then.”

Ydris looked confused, then offended. “You thought I caused the tree to fall in front of you?”

“I mean, I wouldn’t put it past you. I thought maybe I annoyed you badly enough for you to want to do that. You are a Pandorian, after all.”

Ydris’s inhaled sharply. “...what?”

Valentina, realizing what she’d said, seemed to shrink slightly. “Um, bye!” she yelped, hopping onto Waterlily 2’s back. It hurt, but Val was in panic-escape mode, so she ignored the pain for now. She quickly severed the rope with a pinch her fingers, and prayed Ydris would just think it snapped and hadn’t seen her do it. 

“Wh- huh? D-don’t you run off!” Ydris shouted.

“Thanks for saving my horse, really!” Valentina shouted back over her shoulder, already halfway down the road.

Ydris cursed and whipped off his hat, gripping the brim in frustration. It was then he noticed that the ace of spades that he’d stored in his sleeve was missing yet again. “Oh, the nerve-” he growled.


End file.
